How Do You Make Hydrogen From Water?
One of the best things about using hydrogen as a fuel alternative is that the only by-product is water vapor. Throw in that the supply is almost limitless, because it is an element that is generally available anywhere and pretty much evenly distributed around the planet and you have a winner. Most of the commercially extracted hydrogen comes from fossil fuels, which gleans hydrogen in its purest form from water through electrolysis. Hydrogen fuel cells are where most of the focus is when talking about using it as transportation fuel and production of a truly practical car is still years away. So it became more of a focus to “tweak” the way fuel is managed in conventional gas engines to effectively burn hydrogen. In order to obtain hydrogen from water you will use a process called electrolysis, which is the separating of water into its basic 1 oxygen atom and 2 hydrogen atoms. Sending an electrical current through the water does this, but since energy cannot be created or destroyed, onl
There’s been a lot in the news about hydrogen as a potential fuel source. Currently, hydrogen in commercial quantities is produced by extracting it from oil, but engineers are working to develop a way to economically make hydrogen from water. Water is a molecule composed of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom (H2O), and it is actually very simple to separate the two. This article describes an educational experiment you can do with ordinary household items to show your family how to make hydrogen using electrolysis (passing an electrical current through water). This method of making hydrogen was discovered by the scientist Michael Faraday in 1820, but is still not commercially practical because of the large amount of electricity needed to make hydrogen from water. Step 1 Fill the container about 3/4 full of tap water. Add about one tbsp. of salt to make the water conduct electricity better and give you better results. Step 2 Wind the end of one copper wire around the negative termina
